


black coffee frank

by damnmysterytome



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 05:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6410470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Throughout the next month, Frank and Karen traded off buying each others coffees (or in Frank’s case, her coffee and sandwich) and small talk during the line. Karen considered asking him out to dinner, but by the time she had built up the courage to actually do it, he stopped coming into the shop. The next time she heard his name, she had prayed that it wasn’t the same person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	black coffee frank

Karen Page was guilty of several things and one of them was being an absolute klutz. She was constantly dropping things, walking into walls, bumping into people. She constantly told people that it was a wonder she hadn’t killed herself by walking into something sharp and dangerous. The only person who ever laughed at that was Frank Castle - Black Coffee Frank, as she called him before finding out his full name.

She had a routine, she did the same thing every single day. Karen would get up around 5 AM every day, shower, do her make-up, get dressed, make herself coffee and grab a muffin from a box she’d buy in the beginning of the week. Then, she’d go to work with Matt and Foggy until noon and go down to the nearest coffee shop and buy a coffee and buy a sandwich. After that, she’d return to work until 6:30, then grab dinner from a restaurant nearby and go home.

“Your normal, Karen?” A voice said to her as she stepped up to the barista at the coffee shop, breaking Karen from her train of thought. She looked up and smiled.

“Lets make it a grilled cheese today.” Karen said, pushing her strawberry blonde hair from her face. The man behind the counter smiled at her and nodded, placing the order for her sandwich and her coffee. After she paid and got her food, Karen turned around to leave and instead walked straight into someone who was leaving. Her coffee spilled all over him and knocked the coffee cup out of his hand and onto the floor. “Shit, I’m so sorry!” She exclaimed, turning around and grabbing a handful of napkins from the counter.

Karen didn’t attempt to try to clean the man off, instead she knelt down to try to clean up the coffee spilled on the floor. “It’s alright.” She heard a gruff voice say, looking up to see him pick up napkins off the counter and pat at his black shirt. 

Karen picked up both of their cups and shoved the napkins in with what was left of the coffee, standing to her feet with them in her hands. “Let me buy you a new coffee.”

“That’s not-”

“Please. I will not let you leave here without a new coffee.”

The man eyed Karen for a few moments before he nodded in agreement. “Might need to get a new sandwich too.” He said, nodding at the sandwich in her hands. It too was now covered in coffee. Karen cursed under her breath and turned back to the barista, who had simply been watching Karen make a fool out of herself with an amused grin on his face.

Karen made a face at him before throwing away her grilled cheese and ordering a second order of a grilled cheese sandwich and a cappuccino, then turned to look up at him. “And uh…”

“Black coffee.” He said, his hands in his pockets. Karen reached into her purse to get out her wallet, turning to look back at him.

“Again, I’m sorry. I’m really such a terrible klutz. I’ve always said it’s a wonder I haven’t killed myself by walking into something sharp and dangerous.” Karen explained. She was surprised when the man next to her actually let out a laugh and she tilted her head to look up at him. “You are the first person to ever laugh at that. I’m Karen.”

“Frank.” He said, taking the black coffee from the counter when it was placed down. He took a sip from it and nodded at her. “Thanks.”

Karen turned to grab her own coffee and sandwich and turned around to say something else, but he was gone by the time she turned back around.

* * *

“Same thing today, Karen?”

“I’m feeling a croissant today, actually, thank you.” She said. Karen looked into her purse for her wallet and pulled out a handful of tissues and wrappers that needed to be thrown out. She turned to throw them out at the trash and almost slammed into a body again. “Son of a-” She looked up and realized that it was the man she’d bumped into a few days ago, Frank, she thought. “Well, at least this time I didn’t spill my coffee all over you.” Karen said with a laugh.

Frank turned to look at her and she was sure he almost smiled, and he nodded at her. “At least I smelled real good the whole day yesterday.” Karen’s face flushed red and she tossed the garbage in the trash, turning back around to see Frank being handed back change and her croissant and coffee sitting on the counter.

“You didn’t have to-”

“Have a good day, ma'am.” Frank said, tapping his finger on top of his baseball cap before he turned and walked out of the coffee shop.

* * *

Throughout the next month, Frank and Karen traded off buying each others coffees (or in Frank’s case, her coffee and sandwich) and small talk during the line. Karen considered asking him out to dinner, but by the time she had built up the courage to actually do it, he stopped coming into the shop. The next time she heard his name, she had prayed that it wasn’t the same person.

* * *

 

When the news came out about who The Punisher was and that his name was Frank Castle, Karen briefly wondered if it was the same man she’d been trading off coffee bills with every day for a month. The killings he was accused of had started just after he stopped coming in the coffee shop.

But the name Frank wasn’t that uncommon, so it must just be a coincidence, right? She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, even as she was preparing to walk into the hospital room Frank Castle was in.

Karen didn’t want to believe that the man who she’d had coffee with several times over the past few months could be the same man that had tortured and killed almost 40 people. But as she walked into the hospital room and saw the bruised and battered version of the man that had bought her coffee and her sandwich every other day, she cursed under her breath.

Black Coffee Frank was Frank Castle.

  
  


 

 


End file.
